Last year I joined up with an informal “Sunday Painters” group. One person posts the next location on his Facebook page on Saturday and then whoever wants to shows up. There’s been close to a dozen of us at times. It’s about a 50/50 split between those who work in watercolor and those who paint in oil. I’ve mostly been using it as a busman’s holiday and doing watercolors. It’s always great fun and camaraderie. Here’s a selection of what I’ve done over the past few months.

I use either a set of Yarka poured watercolors or a Winsor-Newton set of half-pans on Arches cold press 140lb. watercolor blocks or loose 8×8″ pieces of Saunders Waterford 140lb. cold press. I’ve also been experimenting with Lanaquarelle cold press and hot press. I’ve got a variety of brushes. My current favorite is a large synthetic round that I got at Cass Art Supply in London last May, but I also like Robert Simmons’ Sapphires. I just got a new Stephen Quiller flat, the same as my friend and nationally-known watercolorist David Rankin uses, and plan to try it out this weekend since so far the weather forecast is looking good. David has posted a ton of wonderful tutorials on his website and his Facebook page. If you do watercolor or want to, check them out. I’ve learned a lot from him, not only about handling the media, but picture-making in general.